Ceramic Coating Heads

[CaptainChauncy Amateur Metal Finisher Find all posts View Profile Close CaptainChauncy]

I am rebuilding a ford 302 engine to swap into my ranger and I am thinking about ceramic coating the heads. Has anybody ceramic coated heads on an engine? Will I be better off using hi-temp powder? Would the cermaic aid in reducing underhood temps? Are there any negative effects of cermaic coating the heads?

Thanks
Kyle

[pickleboy Metal Finishing Guru Find all posts View Profile Close pickleboy]

Re: Ceramic Coating Heads

1. yes you can do it, first you would need to strip the heads and have then hot tanked to get clean. 2. it would be quite expensive compared to powder, about $15-$20 per 4 ozs. 3. yes it will reduce the under hood temp. also look at the other techline coatings that caswell carries for engines, they have some cool stuff. best of luck and keep us posted if you do decide to go that way.

[bzer1 Experienced Metal Finisher Find all posts View Profile Close bzer1]

Re: Ceramic Coating Heads

I would say you'll probably be ok...BUT!!. Use caution when spraying, try to keep your film even and not too much build up. You don't want to create hot spots in the water jackets. Although the 302 is a very hearty engine It does have a tendency heat up very quickly under stress. This is usually not a problem but it could be if you have a few hot spots in your heads. I was a mechanic(ASE master mechanic) and built engines for many years and have seen very expensive performance engines overheat and grenade because someone decided it was a good idea to load it up with paint to make it look good. I've built and rebuilt engines as small as R/C car engines and as big as a diesel tug boat engine. It's my belief that you might be better served to ceramic coat the exhaust manifolds/headers to lower your underhood temp rather than the cyl heads. As an engine builder I would leave them alone I doubt you would see a significant benefit from ceramic coating your heads. In my opinion the potential risk outweighs the reward. If it were my engine I would ceramic coat the exhaust manifolds and VHT paint (thin) the heads and block. Again this is only my opinion.

[Zpider Amateur Metal Finisher Find all posts View Profile Close Zpider]

Re: Ceramic Coating Heads

One thing about ceramic coating the outside of the heads is that if you use a TBC coating, (thermal barrier coating) you actually keep the heat in the head, thus not allowing it to cool as it should, and that is not what one would want. Coating the head i would, and always do use, a heat dispersant coating, such as the Techline TLTD.

[hvac36 Amateur Metal Finisher Find all posts View Profile Close hvac36]

Re: Ceramic Coating Heads

The Head and Block are 2 places you DO NOT want to keep heat in. Like someone has said in this thread if you ceramic coat anything do the headers.
If you want to add color then Powder the head, you will gain about 10-15 degrees by doing this. What I have done to help correct this is lowering the thermastat by that much.
Did a ford Probe GT engine and ran teh stock t-stat and did not really notice any change in this motor. See attached image.
Jim S...